Cleridae

Common name:

Chequered beetles

Number of species:

15

Size Range:

6-16mm

Tarsi:

4-4-4, 5-5-5. Lobed.

Images:

Description:

This small family includes 14 species recorded from Britain, all of which are local, rare, or probably extinct here. Two species Thaneroclerus buqueti (Lefebvre) and Paratillus carus (Newman) are likely to accidentally-imported transient species, and four species, Tilloidea unifasciatus (Fabricius), Trichodes alvearius (Fabricius), T. apiarus (L.) and Tarsostenus univittatus (Rossi) have not been seen since the 19th century and are likely to be extinct.

Medium-sized (6-16mm) beetles and often brightly coloured, attractive, species, they are associated with stored products, carrion and trees. Necrobia spp. scavenge dead flies and fly larvae while several other species (particularly Tillus elongatus (L.), Korynetes caeruleus (De Geer) and Opilio mollis (L.)) are predatory on Anobiidae.